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Coal mining? Wouldn't have thought of that. Luckily the coal industry seems to be on a steep downslope already (much more so than the rest of fossil fuels).
by _bxg1 7y ago
Coal mining? Wouldn't have thought of that. Luckily the coal industry seems to be on a steep downslope already (much more so than the rest of fossil fuels).
- mordymoop 7y agoCoal is basically extremely heavy oil, so it should offgas an enormous amount of volatile hydrocarbons.
- makomk 7y agoYep. There's a lot of methane trapped in coal seams, depending on the type of coal. The old miner's name for it is firedamp, and it killed or injured quite a few miners prior to modern equipment and safety measures. There's been a bit of a push to extract and use it in the US over the last few decades, but I think China pretty much just vents it to the atmosphere.